And
for some reason it went ridiculously Anglo. England became an
extension of Middle Earth, imagined from watching reruns from the
BBC, instead of a real place.

Angry
young Chicano writer that I was, I complained, but nobody listened.

Years
went by, the new century arrived. Tolkien was made into movies,
bikers and affluent black kids discovered him. Families of
hillbillies learned to play Dungeons & Dragons. And now, the
post-Harry Potter audience loves Game of Thrones.

So
I tend to sneer at things labeled Fantasy by the mulitnational
corporate entertainment industrial complex, even though I love all
things fantastic.

Then
I met K Arsenault Rivera, was impressed with her feisty attitude and
her proud declaration that her first novel was about “incredibly
gay princesses.” She was also born in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, moved
to New York when she was a toddler, and currently lives in Brooklyn. I had
a feeling that the La Bloga audience needed to know about her.

The
bio said she was involved in the role-playing community, but I could
forgive her that because of her obsession with Homer’s Odysseywith
feminist objections.

I
was not disappointed.

The
Tiger’s Daughternot
only delivers incredibly gay princesses (Disney take note), but a
well-crafted fantasy world based on the Mongolian empire. There are
demons that have armies, and are the result of a zombie-like plague,
but are not the cliches from that overdone subgenre that refuses to
die. We also get a powerful love story that includes love letters (I
miss letters, we lost something with the coming of email)--in fact,
the whole novel seems to be a long love letter. And an epic adventure.

Never
does it come off as being contrived to pander to contemporary tastes
or sensibilities. I felt that I was transported to another world.
Isn’t that what fantasy is supposed to do?

It
sure ain’t macho fanboy fodder.

Still,
it’s been trolled on Goodreads. Racial slurs that are within the
context of the world/story, even identified as such, are called out
as being politically incorrect. Rivera has also been accused of
cultural appropriation because she isn’t Asian.

Who
came up with this idiotic idea that we all are only supposed to write
our own ethnic group? Doesn’t that put ridiculous limits on or
imaginations? It can also cripple science fiction and fantasy worse
that racism does.

We
shouldn’t be afraid to let our twisted imaginations go wild.
Especially us Latinoids, who tend to be natural-born recombizoids whether
we like it or not.

But
then Rivera doesn’t need me to tell her that, or defend her,
warrior that she is.